Observations, musings & outright lies

More than Witty Repartee

Quip is the new, hip electric toothbrush. The brand’s philosophy is that you’ll use the toothbrush more because of its sleek, modern design than any unneeded gimmicks like bluetooth. And I’ll admit that the design is one of the main reasons I wanted a quip. You can tell the brand is hip because it doesn’t capitalize the product/company name.

You have your choice of plastic or metal handles. I grabbed a copper finish and I like the weight of the toothbrush. Plus it looks snazzy. The brush is powered by a AAA battery that’s supposed to last for 3 months. One’s included already when you get your brush. A little toothbrush holder is also included, and it doubles as a travel cover.

Dentists recommend you replace a toothbrush every 3 months, not because of germ buildup but because the bristles wear out and aren’t as effective after 3 months. I’ve been pretty good about this and try to buy a new toothbrush every season. Quip makes this easier for you and will send you a new brush head every 3 months.

The cost of brush replacement is covered under one of the available plans or you can pay $5/month for them. Go with the plan, my friends.

There’s also a plan where quip will send you a 3-month supply of toothpaste. The company encourages you to use a pea-size amount of toothpaste rather than the inch-long stripe most of us use. Their toothpaste is designed to last for 3 months if you use the pea.

So what sets quip apart from manual brushing? Dentists recommend you brush for 2 minutes. Chances are that you don’t. Both the quip’s bristles and handle vibrate while you brush. After 30 seconds, the vibration pauses, signaling you to move to another quadrant of your mouth. After you’ve spent 30 seconds in each quadrant, it pulses letting you know that you’re done.

I’ll be honest: the first few times I’ve used my quip, 2 minutes felt like a really long time. And if you use more than a pea of toothpaste, you get a lot of toothpaste foam in your mouth.

I’ve had the toothbrush for about 2 weeks now and, while 2 minutes is till 2 minutes, I’m more accustomed to the time spent.

Does it do anything better for my teeth? They feel cleaner but I suspect that’s due to the 2-minute brush time more than anything else. This is not an ultrasonic vibration or oscillating vibration or any of that. That’s ok: a search of medical literature found that while electric toothbrushes, specifically oscillating brush heads, reduced plaque and gingivitis more than manual toothbrushes, the difference may not matter clinically.

So essentially I’ve picked up a toothbrush that looks cool and helps train me to brush my teeth properly. I’m ok with that.